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Martin outdid himself. And honestly, he didn’t have to try so hard. I was already going to give him five stars for this scene alone: (view spoiler)[THE RED WEDDING! I cannot believe the King of the North, Robb Stark was murdered! (hide spoiler)]

Have you ever seen a car accident? Not the aftermath that messes up traffic, but the actual event itself? Having driven in both Atlanta and Houston’s rush hour, I’ve seen a handful. It’s horrible horrible horrible. There is that signature sound when thousands of pounds of metal crunch together. And it blows my mind. One side of my brain is in denial and keeps repeating, “That did not just happen.�� The other half is moving forward. “Is anyone hurt? Don’t gawk �� don’t want to be rear-ended myself. Do they have the insurance? Has someone called the police?�� I get clammy and shaky, as well as teary-eyed thinking of all the emotions they’ll have to deal with. And even though I wasn’t directly involved, I have this on-edge feeling that lasts the whole day.

Reading THAT scene was akin to watching a multi-car pile-up. I freaked out. Literally slammed the book shut, stood up on the bed, and cussed for a bit. Next I curled up into a ball, hugged the book to my chest, and muttered “No no no!�� on loop. I wailed to my concerned husband, “What is going to happen now?�� Then I proceeded to mull over this development for days.

Looking back, I wonder why it shocked me so much. This series is full of twists, deaths, and reveals. What’s one more? And Martin certainly gave some clues leading up to the event.

I think it caught me off guard, because he had just devoted a fair amount of time to this part of the plot. Through books one and two, (view spoiler)[I kept wondering why Robb is the only character of the Stark family who is largely ignored �� except for Rickkon, but he’s too young at this point to participate. (hide spoiler)] Truth be told, I ignored my own advice after reading book two: if you see a bright light, don’t trust it. (view spoiler)[That was a nasty trick on Martin’s part to make me empathize for a character only to turn around and murder them a few chapters later. The moment I thought, “huh, I kind of like this Robb guy��, I should have been on high alert. I was honestly expecting him to be taken prisoner at the Twins or fight off an attack. That Martin would actually kill this potentially great king never entered my mind. (hide spoiler)] I guess there is a new, supplemental lesson: never enter into a romantic relationship with Martin. He would jerk my emotions around mercilessly and leave me heartbroken on a bathroom floor.

Also, THE scene made me question where this entire series is headed. Imagine you’re reading a safe, mass-appeal book, you can rest assured that no how much hardship the author throws at the protagonist, they’ll survive, because (a) the author/publisher doesn’t have the guts to disappoint their legions of readers and (b) there’s a sequel! I thought the main goal here was to see the Stark family emerge victorious and save the Seven Kingdoms. Now I’m not as sure. And after reading roughly 3,000 pages and with 2,000+ pages to go, it shook me to feel so untethered.

Anyways, kudos to Martin for making me react that strongly. I read enough that I am becoming increasingly callous to authors�� surprise attacks. And this series is so large that the plots from each book are already melting together. It is hard to remember during which book this or that character was introduced or where I learned a key piece of information. But THAT scene will always define book three for me.

I also love that when I felt confident the book was winding down (with only 200 pages to go), Martin threw in some more shockers. While they were not of the same caliber as THE scene, they nonetheless required me to reset my expectations for the next book. Of course I am referring to (view spoiler)[Stannis saving the Wall and, more importantly, the murder of Joffrey, Tywin, and Lysa. Hooray! I won’t be missing any of them. It seemed uncharacteristic for Martin to kill off the bad guys. Yet I thank him from the bottom of my heart. The prospect of watching Sansa become the king’s abused mistress or subject to her lunatic aunt was too much for me to bear. (hide spoiler)]

Martin, I am catching onto your wily ways. And I am begging for more.